Couple transform old pub into stunning plot and rural home
YOU CAN VISIT THEIR GARDEN AS PART OF CHARITY SCHEME
A COUPLE have spent two years transforming an old village pub into a stunning country house and amazing garden.
They had to live in a caravan with their two cats while much of the work on the house in Main Street, Waltonon-Trent, which used to be The Shoulder of Mutton pub, was done. The pub closed in 2011.
Mark Smith, 51, and his wife, Sarah, 54, decided to buy the land and the old pub in Walton 18 months later, wanting to turn the building into a family home and the field of nettles into a garden, which can now been seen as part of the National Garden Scheme.
The work on the house was completed in 2014 and the garden is thriving. It has been open to the public to view, with people visiting it during the summer months for the past five years.
Sarah said: “I love working on the garden and I’m often up at 6am to get out to it. It’s often hard to find the time in the days with working and three kids so that’s when I find it best to treat the plants.
“Since renovating the place, too, we get loads of positive feedback from people we don’t even know, saying we’ve done a cracking job with it. I think it’s because the house is quite striking and in the centre of the village people have noticed and comment on it.
“All we ever wanted was a family home and it’s what we’ve got with the house. I wanted a bigger garden, and I’ve certainly got that as well.”
During the renovation, the couple, along with their three children, 18-year-old twins Daisy and Molly and their younger brother Tommy, 16, lived in a caravan at the side of the property while builders renovated the house.
Sarah said: “There were five of us and two cats in this tiny caravan but those are the great memories of being a part of the journey together.
“We lived in a small cottage around the corner which we had to sell before moving into here so we had to camp in the bedrooms upstairs in the first year when the house was all just boards. But we actually started the garden before we started the house, with Mark mowing back at the overgrown grass which was there initially.
“Now the kids love to bring their friends round and go into the garden and sit around the wood burner. It’s just a lovely place to live now and were so proud of the transformation of the place.”
Sarah would also encourage anyone looking to find a family home to consider taking a similar path by transforming a property. She said: “I would encourage people to do it but also say to enjoy the journey.
“Once it’s finished the only issue really is maintenance. The best bits are being on the journey of which you don’t always recognise at the time, but everything changing, and you can be creative in building and making things each day.”
The family have opened their garden four times over the last five years and have raised over £4,500 for charity, collecting £1,000 last weekend. The family donated money raised from the garden and cake sales to Windmills, a bereavement support charity for children and young people following the death of a teenager in the family, with other donations usually going back into the National Garden Scheme The garden at 7 Main Street, Walton-on-Trent, DE12 8LY is open throughout July. You cannot just turn up – opening times are made by arrangement with the garden owner. Admission for adults is £6 and children go free.
For more information, go to the National Garden Scheme website.
The kids love to bring their friends round and go into the garden and sit around the wood burner. Sarah Smith